Prasar Bharti eyes bigger slice of ad revenue from govt, PSUs

Source: www.indiantelevision.com, Indiantelevision.com Team

Date: 6^th October, 2012

MUMBAI: The all new revenue consciousness is making public broadcaster Prasar Bharati to get a bigger share of advertising from the government and public sector undertakings (PSUs) on its channels, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar told Mint newspaper in an interview.

He also said Prasar Bharati needs to sell ad spots on All India Ratio (AIR), DD News and DD main channel separately and for this purpose, repositioning and freshening up of DD News is under way.

The public broadcaster is planning to revamp its marketing channel. It will consists of two additional directors general (DGs) and their teams in Mumbai, where the companies are located. "Currently, roughly half the revenue comes from the marketing wing and the other half from government commercial wing. There are a lot of doables on these two counts," Sircar said.

Sircar also mentioned that recent report by Crisil and NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) shows that the highest consumption is taking place in the rural areas. "Not even our worst rivals can doubt we have complete monopoly in that market, especially in villages with scattered houses. Even in the most difficult places, we have terrestrial transmission."

He also believes that marketing has to relate to reports that come out periodically that rural India spending is higher than urban India. "We are rural India. That nexus has to be drawn."

According to him, there are roughly 10 million DD Direct DTH homes. There would be another at least 15 million terrestrial-only DD homes. "So, 25 million viewers are completely loyal to us. All the private operators also carry DD."

Also, on DD Direct Plus, the company is planning to begin default advertisements. "All the private operators have these when you switch on their systems. So, unlike them, I cannot charge the customer, but I can charge the company," he added.

The company has set a target of getting Rs 20 billion revenue a year. Sircar told Mint that Prasar Bharati earned Rs 169 million from London Olympics. Simulcast properties like Coke Studio (an MTV show) helped the channel make Rs 2.5 million per episode while it made Rs 140 million because of simulcasting Satyamev Jayate, Sircar said.

Link: http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k12/oct/oct75.php